Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Murano & Italy Glass => Topic started by: Pinkspoons on August 16, 2010, 04:23:31 PM
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I've recently started to get interested in 20th Century Italian glass made in the Roman / Etruscan style. I've a few smaller pieces here and there, but I thought it was time to take the plunge properly with this beast of a piece!
It's 23" / 585mm tall and 14" / 365mm diameter. It has a loose-fitting trumpet-shaped shade with 'scavo' decoration sat in a patinated brass mount of three abstract male nude figures. It bears a Seguso label, c.1970s.
Do Seguso scavo pieces have any attributed designers? It seems a shame that such a sculptural piece should go without a creator!
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Nic,
You're doing very well with the Murano, aren't you. Which Seguso is it as I can'y see the label very clearly? The label looks more like Seguso AV than Archimede or SVd'A.
David
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Definitely SVd'A (see attached photo). I bought it along with a vast urn and a much smaller prunted vase, both SVd'A scavo - so I'm not doing too shoddily in my expansion into Venetian glass. :D
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Really cool lamp!! One of the best ones I have seen yet!! I am green with envy over here. :sm:
tam bam
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Thanks. :)
I'm a big fan of it too - although I've not yet wired it up to see how it looks lit. I'm sure it will be fairly astounding, though, as the scavo decoration is most dense at the height where the bulb sits, so the light should be very mellow and diffused.
This is one of its companion pieces - 395mm / 15.5" tall, and with clear-cased jet-black handles...
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:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:...most envious of the urn vase...
I must say, trying to figure out the period after Poli left is utterly confusing. It is unfortunate that the SVdA website has very little information on the history of the company. There is this site with some information...
http://www.boglewood.com/murano/producers/segusovetri.html
As to the accuracy, I do not know for the 70's...i wish that SVdA book would come out! I can understand the delay, anything after 1963 must be frustrating for the author!
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Nic,
I'm pretty sure that this is a 1980's plus label, which makes finding a designer quite problematic. The lamp comes from the incarnation of SVdA that was owned by Maurizio Alberelli and most of the designs were from free-lancers. I also suspect that it's the stock from that company that provided most of the stock for this site http://www.design-and-arts.com/
I'd love to see a picture of your scavo with prunts if you get a chance.
David
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Seguso VdA got mighty confusing in the 1970s for sure. I wondered if this label might be later -- say, 1980s. I usually think of the plastic labels as being 80s and later, though it probably isn't always true.
Are those nude boys? Not something one sees often in home decor.
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Even in the early years of SVdA the labelling is confusing. I have a few soffiato pieces from the 1930's with the square white SVdA label and also the red Seguso label! I had thought the red Seguso label was from the 1940's through to early 50's. Then you have the well know SVdA shield that was used mainly in the 50's. In regards to the clear plastic label, wasn't this introduced in the 60's? I have a couple of early 60's pieces that have this label!
Confused?! :huh: :pb:
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Kane:
Heireman's in Themes and Variations has SVdA labels up the collapse of the company in 1973 when the paper shield label was still in use. It didn't operate again as SVdA until 1976 and I think the plastic label is from then or later. Also, my sense is that the company after 1976 did a fair bit of reproduction work, either very old Murano or a revival of scavo, for example. Here's a piece I have with the same label on it. http://picasaweb.google.com/lasilove/Murano?pli=1&gsessionid=7v2Xf9iJ5uODYQ8mNuQ-jA#5497354505276231698
David
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In typical kanenator style...I had to fall in love with the most confusing of glass companies known to man! :24:
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:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Green :sm: with envy ---- that is Radio-active GREEN :nk:
Nice :hiclp:
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I'm just about to dash out, so I'll answer a few of the other issues later today - but on the age of the label, knowing little of Italian glass I was just going from the Murano 101 labels section: http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-9950
Whilst I instinctively tend to think of plastic labels as quite modern inventions, I do know that a few Scandi glass companies, like Riihimaki, were definitely using them in the 1960s.
Also, the lamp fittings seem quite 1970s - spraypainted Bakelite rather than heat-proof plastic. Although I don't know that much about Italian lighting, these fittings had been generally phased out in Scandi, German and UK lighting by the end of the 1970s.
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Nic
Heireman is very reliable, and so I would bet a bundle on the label being 1976 or later. I seem to remember hearing there was a lighting forum somewhere.which might be able to help, although getting designers for lighting can be difficult unless it's Venini.
David
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Kane I've found out a little more about SVdA and its labels. The company changed its name to Seguso Vetri d'Arte in 1937, and Archimede Seguso didn't come into being until 1946 so there's something odd about at least one of the labels being on your piece if it is 1930's soffiati.
I think I implied that the company was inactive 1973-6. Not quite true. The name was changed to Sculture Aristico Muranese when Albarelli took over in 1973 with Angelo Seguso and Pino Signoretto as the master blowers. I wonder if anyone has ever seen anything with that label on it? That company went bankrupt in 1976, but Albarelli reorganized and restarted as SVdA before the end of the year. I think much of the confusion is caused by the company then producing a lot of the older designs and mixing them with newer designs.
Kane: I suppose you've seen this web site http://www.segusovetridarte.it/ Not much on it, but it's there adn sems to say that the family members have taken over the company again.
David
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I'd love to see a picture of your scavo with prunts if you get a chance.
Quick snapshot attached.
Are those nude boys? Not something one sees often in home decor.
Yup, they're very much 'in the buff'. I'm probably too used to Danish design, where male nudity is as common as female nudity, so it didn't even click that a bit of meat and two veg might be a bit peculiar for domestic interior design. :-[
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... and [ahem] quite well hung they are, too. :o I guess the nude female form is so ubiquitous we barely blink. My kids were embarrassed though - the eldest actually made little dresses for some of my glass figures. :24:
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Well that would help to prevent stress cracks :24: :24:
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David, I have just purchased the Archimede Seguso book. Wont arrive till early October >:( and if only the SVdA book was out it might help shed some light on the situation.
I have some SVdA glasses that have the white square SVdA label on them which are from the late 30's/early 40's. With Archimede being the glass blower up until 1942 at SVdA, maybe the the other 2 pieces are from around the time he left and the label transition? Just a thought. I don't think the pieces are suspect or fake and I believe all the pieces were made by Archimede Seguso. I have some pictures some where so I might put them up so we don't hijack Nic's thread.
In the interim I have left these pieces as research for later once I have more information available.
I have seen the SVdA website and hopefully one of the family members will get around to doing a thorough history on the company in the future would be extremely helpful for us SVdA buffs. ;D
Ladies...keep it clean!!! ;)
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Kane:
Which Archimede book did you buy? I keep looking for the SVdA book to come out as it would fill a big hole in my knowledge. What I don't understand is that someone on the GMB said some years ago that they had seen an advance copy from Ardnoldische, and yet nothing more has appeared.
I'd love to see pictures of your glasses when you get a chance.
David
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I got the Lace & Stone book as I am buying the cheaper books first. I am buying 1 glass book a month to get more reference resources. Not sure of the content but any help on his pieces is going to be great. I just hope the book has some detailed information on his history, especially before the 50's but I assume because it is a Pina book it would be concentrating on the 50's?!
I would love to see my glasses as well. Oddly, I have not even unwrapped them since I purchased them :o. Probably because I have been to busy getting the glass I have to sell together. I haven't had the time to admire there beauty yet ;D.
The SVdA book is listed on Amazon as 'Out Of Print - Limited Availability'. Was it even printed? I have never seen or heard of a copy in existence. It must be a myth!
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It has several publication dates listed on the internet: March 2004, Jan 2005, Jan 2006 - and Dec 2010.
Its ISBN, which looks to be the same all the way through, is only 10 digits, (3897901625), which means it was assigned prior to 2007. Either it was published in very small numbers each time, or the publication has been beset with problems, such as clearing copyright on images and newer catalogues, which have shifted the release several times.
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I would be assuming more likely copyright due to publication issues...LETS GET IT RELEASED!!!...Sorry for the yelling...but i need partner... :P
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I agree Pain. I wish this book would be released also. I also need it to identify a label on my SVdA bird that I have. I have never seen the label before and the bird appears to be old because I found ash in it. It would be nice to get a copy of this book.
tam bam
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I am on every wait list for the book that I've been able to find. I have scoured the world over for the Seguso VdA book. I really don't think it is out there anywhere. I read something a while back that said Heiremans had some trouble with the release of a couple of his books because of problems with the books themselves. I wondered if this is one of them.
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Do you have a pic of the label tam bam?
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I emailed Arnoldische, the publisher, asking if Heiremans book on SVdA had ever or would ever be published. They said that their plan was to publish it in Summer/Autumn of 2011. At least we have a specific date to look forward to now.
David
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Yay! Thanks David!
tam bam
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A year! But I can't wait another year! I want it tomorrow. :cry:
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Pain, I didn't see your reply about my SVd'A bird label until now. Sorry it took me so long to respond. Yes, I do have a pic of the label. If you wish to view it, it is in Anita's Murano Zoo. Here it is:
http://sites.google.com/site/muranozoo/birds-page-10
The first bird on the top left is it.
As far as this lamp goes. I am with David that this is a SVd'A Albarelli lamp. There is a discussion on another board about SVd'A Albarelli and a nice member replied with help. Here is the link:
http://www.fossilfly.com/Forums/showthread.php?p=10209#post10209
tam bam
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Thanks tam bam...that is a label I have not seen before on a piece ;D. That makes 6 labels I know of now before Albarelli took over. 7 if you include the the plastic label. :thup: I maybe forgetting one also :huh:.
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As far as this lamp goes. I am with David that this is a SVd'A Albarelli lamp. There is a discussion on another board about SVd'A Albarelli and a nice member replied with help. Here is the link:
http://www.fossilfly.com/Forums/showthread.php?p=10209#post10209
RE: The Design & Arts SVd'A vase linked to in the Fossifly thread - does anyone know if the 1/300 part of the signature does reflect an edition number, or merely a pattern number?
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I am guessing that it is the production number but that is only my opinion.
tam bam
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This was my initial thought also. D&A sell a lot of wonderful glass, but sometimes their descriptions can be a little... stretched... so I'm never 100% sure how accurate they are.